The Price of Love
by The Planet Jupiter
Summary: Miss Peregrine finds love in a man she sees wandering her garden one day, but is he all he claims to be?
1. Chapter 1

**The Price of Love**

Chapter One:

Alma carefully slipped off her black, leather heels and placed them neatly at the foot of her bed. She walked, now barefoot, towards her vanity and took a seat at the wooden chair there. One by one, she took out the several hairpins keeping her hair up and picked up her hairbrush to start brushing it out. With each brush, her black hair loosened up and started to fall in waves down her shoulders.

Satisfied that her hair had no hairpins or knots left, she stood up and made her way to her oak wardrobe to find some clothes for bed. It was a little past two in the morning but that didn't bother her. She was used to going bed in the early hours of the morning- especially looking after eleven children.

She stopped before her wardrobe that had a long mirror on one of the doors and opened it up to reveal mostly black and dark blue clothes. It was no secret that dark blue was her favourite colour, but she had only started to wear black after poor Victor's death. She would mourn her lost child's death until the day she, too, died.

Rummaging through her clothes, she eventually found a navy jumper and on the shelf that was at the top of the wardrobe, she found the matching navy trousers. She slipped out of her current outfit and threw it in the hamper, replacing the clothes with her pyjamas. She decided on also putting on some socks due to the cold tempratures and thunder of the night of Semptember 3rd 1943.

Once dressed, she quickly combed through her hair again and went to the small en suite that merely consisted of a walk in shower, sink, and toilet. There was a towel rack and cabinet on the wall, too, but that's all that existed in the small bathroom.

Alma crossed over to the sink and picked up her white toothbrush along with the tootpaste. She squeezed some toothepaste onto the toothbrush and wet it before starting to brush her teeth.

Now feeling a little tired, Alma reentered her bedroom and swiftly walked over to her inviting bed. Just as she pulled her duvet back there was a clap of thunder followed by panicked knocks on her bedroom door.

With a sigh, Alma moved away from her bed and headed in the direction of her door. She opened up the door with little effort to be greeted instantly by two of her children wrapping their arms around her waist, the third child stood in front if her, holding her beloved teddy in her arms as a frown donned her face.

"Now what are you three doing up at this time?" Alma questioned, though she already knew the answer to that. They were afraid of the thunder and couldn't sleep. It was the same thing almost every night. "We couldn't sleep, Miss Peregrine. We're sorry," Claire whimpered, hugging Miss Teddy closer to herself. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Claire. Come on," Alma whispered and pulled away from the Twins to stand to her full height.

She took one of each Twins' hands and pulled them into her room, waiting for Claire to enter, too, before closing the door behind them. Letting go of the Twins' hands, she trailed over to her bed, trying to be light footed for fear of waking any of the other kids, and pulled back the duvet fully.

She got into the bed, sitting in the middle and resting against the head board and allowed her children to get into the bed. All three got in, the Twins on either side of Alma and Claire curled up against her front.

Alma wrapped her arms around her children without making it too uncomfortable and held on tightly when they jumped a little in shock when a loud clap of thunder made its way to their ears. It was in moments like these that she realised she would do anything to protect and make her children happy, even if it was just protecting them against mere thunder and lightning.

* * *

The next morning, Alma awoke to an empty bed. For a brief moment she was confused as to where the Twins and Claire were, but the sound of plates clanking downstairs solved the question. It seemed that either her eldest children had come to get them for breakfast or the children had left of their own accord for the same reason.

It was only when Alma made to get up that she realised she had a cramp in her neck from the way she had been lay all night. As much as she loved her children, allowing them to sleep in her room had its cons. Such as; cramps the next morning, little sleep, lack of room in the bed.

Alma swung her legs over the bed slowly got out, mindful of her stiff joints. When she was stood up, she stretched her arms, back, and legs to try and get a semblance of relief in them.

With a glance at the clock near her bedroom door, Alma noticed she was running behind schedule. No wonder her children had started making their own breakfast. They should have woken her, yet they decided to leave her be and make their own food.

Alma went through her morning routine of making her bed, getting dressed, brushing her teeth and washing, and doing her hair and makeup. Once she was ready to leave, she opened her bedroom curtains and window, and left.

Miss Peregrine made her way down the stairs and through to the kitchen, her heels clacking on the wooden floor, and spotted her eldest charges washing up. She tutted loudly to grab their attention and made her way further into the kitchen.

Enoch, Emma, Olive, and Jake all looked away from their tasks of washing and drying the dishes to look at their headmistress. "Good morning, Miss P. Sleep well?" Enoch was the first to speak, only a hint of his usual sarcasm present. "I did indeed, Mr O'Connor. Now, if you'll all kindly leave the dishes to me, you can go and do something else until it's time to do your own chores," Miss Peregrine replied and shooed them away from the sink and cupboards.

"But, Miss P, you just woke up. Surely we can finish these few dishes?" Emma inputted. Miss Peregrine shook her head and continued shooing them until they were pouting as they left the kitchen.

Miss Peregrine finished doing the last few dishes and put them away after drying them. It only took a few minutes so when she was done she was caught up with her schedule. She checked the time on her golden pocket watch and saw it was time to start preparing lunch.

With a slight smile, Miss Peregrine turned on the stove and filled a pot with cold water, placing it on the lit stove. She walked out to the backyard and made her way slowly over to Fiona's garden. Her ward was already there using her peculiarity to grow a large carrot for her.

"That'll do, thank you," Miss Peregrine said when the carrot looked large enough. Fiona stopped growing the carrot and stood up, wiping the dirt from her knees. Just in time, Bronwyn ran around the corner and started pulling the vegetable from the dirt. "Thank you, girls, you did well," Miss Peregrine praised, and Bronwyn started walking away with a smile on her face.

As Miss Peregrine was walking away, Fiona called out to her, "who's that, Miss?" She turned around to her ward and followed the direction in which she was pointing. At the end of the garden, by the pond, was a tall-ish man talking to Claire and the Twins. "I don't know..." Miss Peregrine replied and started walking in the direction of her children and the man.

When she reached them, they'd already noticed she was heading in their direction and had stopped their conversation to wait for her. "Good morning, Miss P," Claire greeted, along with the Twins' special way of saying 'hello'. She returned the greeting before turning to the stranger that had been talking to the three.

"Hello," she started off, unsure of what to say. She could have started off by asking who he was or why he was there, but she'd been taught to never be rude.

"Good morning, Miss Peregrine," the man replied. Miss Peregrine furrowed her brows and gave him a once over in confusion, trying and failing to recognise him.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked.

"Oh, no, sorry. I've heard about you, though," the man said.

"From who?"

"No one in particular, mainly from other Ymbryne's in loops. They speak highly of you."

"I'm sure they do. And why are you here? How did you find _my_ loop?"

"By pure coincidence really. The Ymbryne's mentioned you lived on a small island in Wales with your children, and, well, here I am," he chuckled.

"'Pure coincidence'?" She laughed. "Who are you?" She then asked, hoping to finally satiate her curiosity.

"Charles Ray," he introduced and held out his hand for her to shake. The Twins chittered beside her, but she ignored them and shook Charles' hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Charles," she said with a smile, unable to resist his own contagious one. "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? I was making dinner but that can wait for a few more minutes."

"If you don't mind. I'd hate to intrude."

"Nonsense. Come along," she said and made a gesture with her hand, inviting him to follow her. The Twins and Claire shared a look behind her, but let Miss Peregrine go so they could play with their toys.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Price of Love**

Chapter Two:

Miss Peregrine led Charles into the kitchen and quickly turned the stove down to a low simmer so all of the water wouldn't evaporate.

She took out two mugs from the cupboard on the wall and placed to two teabags in them. "Please, sit down," she smiled, gesturing to the table in the middle of the kitchen. Charles thanked her and took a seat on one of the chairs.

A minute later, Miss Peregrine had made the cups of teas, after asking Charles how he liked his, and had sat down with the man. She handed him his tea and smiled whilst slowly sipping her own.

She placed her drink down and turned to Charles, "I don't mean to be intrusive, but... what's your peculiarity. I mean, only peculiars can enter a loop, so..."

"Oh, it isn't a rare one. My peculiarity is fire. I learned how to control it over time so I'm able to go about my daily life without worry, though sometimes I'm still a little hot to the touch," he chuckled. Miss Peregrine smiled in return and drank some of her drink, "I have a ward whose peculiarity is also fire. She has to wear protective gloves so she doesn't burn the house down. Maybe you two could get acquainted?" She suggested.

"I'd like that. It's nice to talk to someone who knows what you go through, you know. Especially as a peculiar," he gave her a knowing look. "Indeed. Being the only Ymbryne is sort of hard when you have eleven children, but I wouldn't change it for the world."

Charles smiled warmly, "yes, the other Ymbrynes said the same thing about their own children. Though they didn't all have eleven," he drank some of his drink.

Miss Peregrine's reply was cut short when the clanking of glass jars caught their attention. They turned to the right to see Enoch grabbing jars of animal hearts and organs from his cupboard. "Ah, Enoch. Have you finished your chores?" Miss Peregrine asked.

Enoch turned to her, jar in hand, "yes. I didn't say anything though, don't want to interrupt... whatever this is," he said sarcastically. Miss Peregrine had to refrain from rolling her eyes at his behaviour. "Well, I'm glad you've done your chores. Where's Olive?" She then questioned.

"Upstairs with Bronwyn and Claire. Why?" He asked, briefly eyeing Charles. "I want her to meet Charles, here. He has the same peculiarity as her and I thought they could get to know each other," she suggested. Enoch rolled his eyes but didn't question her, instead grabbing more jars and walking off, informing her that he'd get Olive for them.

Miss Peregrine turned back to her guest, with an apologetic smile. "That was Enoch. He can sometimes be a bit difficult but he's lovely, really," she reassured him.

"Don't worry, I like him. There's nothing better than a lad unafraid to speak his mind," Charles laughed.

"Oh, I'm so glad you like him. Most people in the town dislike him because of his attitude. They don't know him like myself and the others do, though," she trailed off at the end before smiling warmly at Charles.

They were once again interrupted by the arrival of another person. This time it was Olive who had been sent by Enoch. She curiously eyed Charles as she entered the kitchen but turned her attention to her headmistress to ask what she wanted.

"What do you need, Miss P?" She asked, going to stand next to her. "Olive, this is Charles Ray. I found him wandering the garden not long ago. His peculiarity is the same as yours," Miss Peregrine informed her.

"That's wonderful! I've never met anyone with the same peculiarity as me," Olive smiled.

"I was thinking maybe you two could get to know each other. Charles has learned how to control it over time, maybe he could help you control yours better?" She suggested, looking at Olive. Olive herself nodded, thinking that if she could control her fire, maybe one day, she could touch Enoch with her bare hands rather than wearing her gloves. "I'd love that, Miss P! Would you mind terribly, Charles?" Olive turned to the man who had been watching them converse. "Of course not, it would be my pleasure," he agreed.

"Let's go then! Oh, and I can introduce you to the others on the way," Olive said immediately. Charles agreed and turned to Miss Peregrine, "do you mind?" He asked. Miss Peregrine was a little wary as she'd only just met him, but he'd been to other loops and met other ymbrynes and peculiars. He seemed a very nice and trustworthy man, so she nodded with a smile.

Charles stood up and wandered off with Olive to go and meet the others, and give her some tips controlling her peculiarity.

\--

Miss Peregrine was cleaning up in the kitchen half an hour later when footsteps approached. She turned around to see Enoch approaching. He seemed annoyed yet curious.

"Who's that man upstairs with the others?" He asked and took a seat at the table, placing an empty jar in front of him. "That's Charles Ray. He's a peculiar, like us," Miss Peregrine said. Enoch scoffed and was going to say something in response when something snapped within him and his breathing deepened.

Miss Peregrine stopped cleaning and sat down across from him. "What's wrong?" She asked. Enoch controlled his breathing and shook his head, "nothing." Miss Peregrine frowned, "are you sure?" She pressed with concern. Enoch nodded and grabbed his jar. He stood up and walked over to the cupboard nearby.

He opened the cupboard and returned the empty jar, swapping it for a couple more with hearts in them. When he had his new organs, he stalked out of the kitchen without a word, leaving Miss Peregrine alone again.

\--

Upstairs, in the room the younger children mainly used for playing, they had all gathered around and watched as Charles tried to teach Olive how to control her spark. Unsuccessfully.

They giggled when Olive accidentally burned paper when holding it experimentally. Charles merely encouraged her and told her she could do it.

Enoch walked in, searching for Olive. He saw her stood in front of a group of children with Charles by her side, telling her how to control her flames.

"Olive," he said. Everyone turned to see him in the doorway with heart jears in his arms. "Yes?" She answered in her kind voice.

"I was gonna experiment with my homunculi, wanna help?" Enoch asked.

"I'm sorry, Enoch, but I want to stay and speak to Charles," Olive frowned apologetically. Enoch clenched his jaw and nodded, leaving the room immediatley.

Olive felt a bit bad, but if Charles could help her control her fire, she could spend more time with Enoch and the others without the constant worry of hurting them.

She turned back to Charles and the others, but when she did she noticed a slight smirk on the former's lips. It was gone as soon as it appeared, but she was sure she'd seen it.

Suspicion grew within her, but she quickly resumed her lesson with the man and forgot about it.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Price of Love**

Chapter Three:

The Twins and Claire stood in the sitting room by the doorway and peered around the corner. In their line of sight was Miss Peregrine and the new man who had randomly shown up a week ago.

The Twins were wary of the man and hissed frantically whenever he got near or he touched Miss Peregrine, but Claire liked him. He seemed like a lovely man and she could tell he liked Miss Peregrine. To Claire, he had potential. He was a perfect match for Miss P and she would love it if he were her new father.

Right now, Miss Peregrine and Charles were in the kitchen. They were merely talking before Miss Peregrine needed to start dinner. Charles reached over and rested a hand on Miss Peregrine's shoulder, both of them laughing at some joke. The Twins chittered anxiously and Claire smiled, but her backmouth snarled.

Without warning, the masked ballerinas ran from the room and straight into the kitchen, almost knocking Claire over. They ran into Miss Peregrine's arms, talking in their language, though the headmistress couldn't understand them. Charles removed his hand and watched the display curiously.

"Are they okay?" He asked with concern. Miss Peregrine looked down at the pair that were clinging to her like their lives depended on it.

"I'm not sure..." she trailed off. With a little effort, she removed the Twins' arms from her legs and pushed them back a bit so she could crouch down in front of them.

"What's the matter, dears?" She questioned when she was level with them. The two remained silent as they didn't know how to express what they wanted to say. They'd never said anything like it before and they were sure Miss Peregrine wouldn't understand them.

"Maybe they're hungry?" Charles suggested, but Miss Peregrine shook her head.

"No, they're upset," she said with a frown. "What is it? Is it the others? Has something happened?" She pressured the Twins, hoping for an answer. The Twins merely shook their head and sqwawked quietly.

That's when Enoch walked in with Olive, heading outside with homunculi and hearts. An obvious sign they were going to start a battle.

Miss Peregrine stood to her full height, though she was still a head smaller than both Olive and Enoch, and stopped them. The duo turned to face her, the Twins, and Charles. "What is it?" Olive questioned.

"Where are the others?" Miss Peregrine questioned, trying to ignore the tugging on her hands from the Twins.

"Upstairs, doing their own thing. Fiona, Hugh, and Claire are in the sitting room," Olive informed. "Why?" She then asked.

"Nevermind. Carry on," Miss Peregrine said. Enoch and Olive nodded with little confusion and continued on their journey to start a homunculi battle.

With the two gone, Miss Peregrine turned back to the Twins. "You're starting to worry me, Twins, what's wrong?" She asked desperately. She got no response as they continued tugging her arms. "Okay, I'll follow you," she gave in, making the Twins chitter happily.

They immediately started pulling her away from the kitchen, leaving Charles. Every few seconds they would look back to make sure he wasn't following them.

The three soon found themselves in the sitting room where Claire, Hugh, and Fiona backed away from the doorway where they'd been watching them. The Twins quickly shut the doors to the sitting room and pulled Miss Peregrine over to one of the couches. They sat her down and then sat down on either side of her. They wrapped her in a hug and chittered anxiously.

"Twins, what's going on? What's wrong with you?" Miss Peregrine asked with concern. A frown donned her face and she wished she could understand her angels better, it would make things much easier. They cooed in response and snuggled closer to her.

A desperate scream echoed from upstairs and Miss Peregrine's eyes widened. She moved the Twins from her sides and stood up, quickly exiting the room. The children followed her from the sitting room and upstairs, following the scream. They all know whom the scream belonged to and despite hearing it quite often, that didn't stop them from rushing to the aid of their friend and brother.

When they were upstairs, they hurried to the third door on the right and Miss Peregrine flung it open. Lay in a sobbing mess with his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, Horace was thrashing about, tears mingling with the sweat. Neither Miss Peregrine nor the other children had seen Horace like that since he dreamt about Victor's death a week before it happened. Panic struck Miss Peregrine at the thought of any of her other wards being killed and she walked over to the bed, perching on the edge of it, a safe distance away from her ward's kicking legs.

With all the gentleness and experience of a mother, Miss Peregrine carefully placed her arm over Horace's shoulder and started shushing him. At first he didn't seem to hear her and continued crying, but eventually his sobs started to subside until they were occasional sniffles and Miss Peregrine could scoot closer to comfort him.

She pulled him into a sitting position when it was obvious he was becoming responsive and wrapped him in a concerned hug. Seconds later, he returned the hug with the hope that it would quell his shaking.

Knowing they should give Horace some privacy all of the children but the Twins left. The Twins shuffled into the room and hovered near Miss Peregrine, their anxiety rolling off in waves and unnerving the ymbryne. Truthfully, she'd only ever seen them as upset as they were now twice before. Once when she had first been introduced to them and they'd been settling into the loop, and when Victor had been killed. At the time they hadn't know Victor for long but the boy with the peculiarity of strength had been a confidant to all of the other peculiar children and had taken on a big-brother role to them all. His death had effected all of them in different ways, but for the Twins they hadn't left Miss Peregrine's side for weeks. She was still unsure whether it was because of fear that they would face the same fate or because they were worried about Miss Peregrine herself.

Slowly, when his shaking had subsided, Horace pulled away from Miss Peregrine. He wiped his cheeks and his nose with his hankerchief, and looked sheepishly up at his ymbryne.

"I'm terribly sorry, Miss," he apologised, quickly looking down, "I didn't mean to be a burden."

The Twins chittered, shaking their heads.

"Mister Somnusson," Miss Peregrine chastised, "you are not a burden, I promise you. You never have been and never will be. I take pride in calling you my ward, night terrors or not, and I wouldn't change you for the world. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Miss Peregrine," he nodded, and he did. He did hear her.

"Good," muttered Miss Peregeine as she pulled Horace into her again.

"Is everything alright? I heard screaming," a voice announced from behind them all. The Twons jumped and span around, already hissing at the intruder.

"Now, now, Twins," Miss Peregrine chastised, pulling away from Horace who was drying his cheeks with a hankerchief, "what have I told you about hissing at our guests?"

The Twins looked away from Charles and at Miss Peregrine, looking guilty even though they wore masks. They cooed apologies.

"Thank you for your concern, Mr Ray, but everything is fine now," Miss Peregrine stated with a smile as she rose from the bed and met Charles in the doorway. Charles nodded in response. "Now, I do think it's almost time for supper. Shall we?"

Nodding, Charles and Miss Peregrine exited the room to head downstairs to the kitchen once more, leaving Horace and the Twins alone. The latter made unhappy noises, staring at the empty doorway.

"I don't like him," Horace stated as he got out of bed and went over to the mirror to check his appearance. He frowned at his sweaty forehead.

"Caww," the Twins moaned their agreements.

"I think we ought to do something about him before something happens," Horace suggested. The Twins tilted their heads, confused at where this side of Horace had come from and wondering what he'd dreamed about.


End file.
